What I Learned at the Biggest Week in Birding
Last month I had the pleasure to attend and lead some small workshops at the Biggest Week in American Birding festival in Ohio. I was there on behalf of Sony, but now that I know this event exists, I'd likely go back even if I wasn't asked to teach. If you've never...
Real Time Bird Photo Shoot
I'm going to share something a little different this time around. You'll get to see a live wildlife shoot and what it looks like through my lens. Settings, jumping AF points, and all. Then we'll take a look through some of the photos and do a quick edit. Let me know...
Bird Photographers Need This Editing Tip
Over the years I've had a number of photos sent in to me to review and there is one small editing issue that I see a lot of people miss. And I definitely understand why... people in general have a hard time seeing when a photo is crooked and when you have wildlife in...
Sometimes It’s a Waiting Game
I think many of you already know this but sometimes photography (and bird photography especially) is a waiting game mixed in with some luck. I'm sure I've talked about this before but I'll continue to talk about it because I think people miss the fact that so much of...
Ruffled Feathers
I always try to talk to people about different moments to capture in their bird photography. To me, that's one of my favorite aspects of this genre - variety. We of course have perched photos and then photos of birds in flight. But there are so many more moments we...
Birdscapes
One day while photographing on the beach I wanted to do something different. I saw some birds near some tall grass and I realized it would make a nice foreground. So I walked over, sat down so that the grass was in front of me, and just waited. The point was so that I...
Stuck!
Ever take photos that you didn't even know you had until you got back to the computer? That's what happened here. I was out shooting one morning and lately I've been using a shooting technique where I hand hold the camera really down low. Basically I'm kneeling on the...
Creative Long(er) Shutter Speed Bird Photography
One morning when I was out shooting, there wasn't much happening. Not wanting to go home empty handed, I decided to take some really tight shots of a Snowy Egret. As I watched its feathers blow in the high winds I had an idea to experiment with some longer shutter...
I See You!
I've got tens of thousands of photos of the Reddish Egrets I see at Ft Desoto Park in St. Petersburg FL. But somehow, every time I go, I seem to get something a little different. I guess that's what keeps us coming back right? These egrets run around with the wings up...
Branching Owls… It’s All About the Lingo
A friend let me know of a spot that has 3 baby owls that have recently started "branching". So just in case any of you are like me, and didn't know what branching was, it's a common behavior where birds move from the nest to a branch, and start flapping their wings to...
Slow Shutter Speed Feathers?
Here's an interesting one I haven't seen before. I was out shooting (with some new friends, Glee and Robert Finnegan) at Fort Desoto the other morning. We saw the Reddish Egrets doing their thing for well over an hour, but eventually it flew away and the light got...
My Favorite Wildlife Photos of 2021
At the end of every year, I always enjoy going through my photos and picking some of my favorites. It’s a fun exercise. And I inevitably end up finding some photos that I may not have thought much of at the time, but I really like now. Or sometimes, photos that I...